The Chain
by Sheblet
Summary: She always comes back with a different name; but, on the inside, she's always somehow the same./ Audrey Parker returns to Haven with a new name.


**The Chain**

The day that Nathan Wuornos wakes up and nearly falls eight times on his way to the bathroom because he can't feel his feet is also the first day in nearly 27 years that he willingly steps foot on Duke Crocker's boat.

"_Nathan?_" Duke says with exaggerated surprise, even though Nathan can tell that deep down, he's _truly_ shocked. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_?"

Duke Crocker looks essentially the same; same unruly, saltwater hair; same infuriating, smug grin; same grimy buttons ups and rolled up blue jeans. The only indication of the years passed are the scant streaks of grey in his locks and the faint lines etching their way across his face.

"Punch me," says Nathan, never one for pleasantries, and Duke quirks an eyebrow.

"Why are you tempting me, Nathan?"

"Just do it!"

"You know Audrey made us promise not to beat each other up-"

Nathan shoves him, hard. Duke's hackles rise. "Fine, have it your way."

And he swings, and strikes, and Nathan's head moves a bit with the force, but otherwise he looks nonplussed.

"I didn't feel that," he says, and can't believe he would ever sound so delighted when saying those words.

And suddenly, Duke gets it.

"They're back," he gasps. "The Troubles – they're _back._"

"Yea," laughs Nathan, smiling wider than Duke can remember. And, for the first time, the two men hug each other, slapping each other's backs and laughing and yelling "They're back!"

They can practically feel Audrey Parker's delight at the scene.

_My boys, _they can almost hear her say. _Getting along at last._

* * *

There have been reports of flying silverware, a man stealing people's shoes without actually touching them, and an invisible force crashing into people's cars.

And Nathan is getting impatient.

The Troubles are back; and with the Troubles there usually comes a tiny sarcastic spitfire whose touch he can feel.

"She's still not here. When will she get here?" Nathan demands, pacing his office, while Duke lounges casually in a chair on the other side of the desk.

"Relax," Duke says in a tense and not-very-relaxed way, "I'm sure she'll be here soon. It's just taking her a while."

"But what if something went wrong? What if the cycle was somehow broken, and she's never coming ba-"

At his point, Duke has grabbed him by the arm and is trying to tug him out the door. It takes Nathan a second to figure out why he's stumbling through his office before he sees the other man's hand gripping his arm. "Where are y-"

"To the Gull," Duke says, and it's starting to piss Nathan off the way the other man keeps interrupting him. "I'm going to get you drunk, you're going to embarrass yourself by trying to dance with several ladies, and you're going to forget about Audrey Parker for the night."

They both know that's not possible, but they go anyways; and Nathan does indeed perform several drunken dances for several sober ladies, all of them leaving because they feel like they're being sexually assaulted.

And Duke laughs.

But neither of them can get that one image of blonde hair and a quick smile out of their minds.

At least, not for long.

* * *

Her name is Annabelle, and she's a painter.

She has extraordinary artistic abilities; the best he's seen since Vince Teagues, God rest his soul.

She still looks mostly the same; same stormy grey eyes. She's still young, the same age as 27 years ago, and Nathan yearns to go back. To be young with her, to do it all over again.

Nathan feels a punch in his stomach (metaphorically) when he sees her hair. The hair that he remembers as being long and golden has been cropped to a pixie cut, reddish-brown in color.

Don't get him wrong, it's still adorable; but it's also still a reminder that this is not his Audrey Parker.

That she is not his.

And though he can't feel anything, he's sure that there's a hollow ache in his chest that can only be filled by Audrey Parker.

Not Lucy. Not Sarah.

And not Annabelle.

* * *

He describes the suspects, and she draws them for him.

She's amazing at it, getting the faces right every single time, and he wonders what it must be like inside her head. To know so many faces.

Nathan about falls over when she asks if the precinct's cafeteria has blueberry muffins, since they're her favorite.

_Blueberry muffins were Audrey's favorite,_ he thinks to himself, trying not to crumple in front of this woman who barely knows him.

"Yea, they got blueberry muffins. C'mon Par – I mean, Annabelle. I'll show you."

"Cool, thanks," she says gratefully, and he leads her to the cafeteria, trying not to feel her brushing against his arm every few steps.

* * *

Duke makes an ass of himself the first time he sees her.

He's startled, because he hasn't seen her around town yet, and he hasn't had a reason to just _go see her _since they technically don't know each other yet.

So he's startled when he goes to the Haven PD to complain to Nathan about a thief at the docks and, instead of the Chief, he finds a carbon copy of Audrey Parker lounging in the Chief's luxurious leather chair.

And he can't be blamed for what he says next, because he's in a state of shock;

"What the hell are _you _doing here?"

"_Excuse _me?" Audrey – no, not Audrey, Annabelle – snaps, rising to her feet.

And Duke's eyes widen. "Oh, no, I'm sorry – that's not what I meant. That's not how I-"

_That's not how I wanted us to meet after 27 years._

Duke takes a breath, and decides to turn on the ol' Crocker charm. "I apologize. What I _meant _was – where the hell is Nathan? That jerk's never here when I need him. Sorry, my words get all jumbled when I'm around someone as beautiful as you."

Annabelle barks out a laugh. "Gross!"

And, for the first time, Duke realizes how long it's truly been.

Because even though it felt like time had stopped when Audrey Parker went into the Barn, it had still been moving, and he had aged while she had stayed the same.

"Sorry," she says quickly, slapping a hand over her grinning mouth. "That's not what _I _meant. I just – you're not my type."

"You're trying to say I'm old," Duke accuses, grinning wryly at her, and she can't contain her giggles.

"_No! _That's _not_ what I'm trying to say!"

And he laughs some more, and she throws a pen at him. Afterwards, when they've both calmed down and Nathan has finally returned, he catches her looking at him quizzically; and he can't help but wonder if she's trying to figure out why she feels like she knows him so well.

* * *

Nathan can't remember what the fight was about.

He knows that Duke was being a gigantic pain in the ass, and they started to bicker, and it escalated.

"Duke, if you don't get out of my face-"

"Don't think I won't beat the hell out of you just because you can't feel it-"

They're yelling at each other over a table at the Gull. At this exact moment, Annabelle returns from the bathroom, flicking them both in the ear as nonchalantly as she would a fly from her arm.

"Ladies, ladies," she says. "You're both pretty. Now c'mon, I don't want to hear any more bickering."

And it's such an Audrey Parker thing to say and do that both men forget what they were fighting about in the first place, their anger replaced by a deep longing.

* * *

Duke finds her painting at the docks.

It's a beautiful landscape of the grey sea, and in the distance is a bird. Maine is always overcast and rainy; and yet somehow, she has managed to portray it in a way that makes him want to take her on his boat and sail that sea forever.

It's not the first time he's had this urge; in fact he's felt it almost every day since she's arrived. He has an overwhelming desire to sail away with her, far from Haven and the Troubles and the inevitable Barn that will someday take her from him again.

He wants to protect her.

"Quit hovering," she grunts, and he can't help but grin at the mixture of concentration and paint smudged on her face.

"It's beautiful," he says, because he can't think of anything else.

"Thanks," she mumbles distractedly, eyes faraway, paintbrush poised just over the canvas, unmoving.

"What made you paint it?" he asks, because he's not quite ready to walk away yet.

She sighs, lowering the paintbrush, and he can literally see her concentration break. "Birds are weird," she says, frustrated.

"Uh-" says Duke.

"Like, they pick a place to live. They settle in, make a home, start a family. Then when winter comes, they just… leave. I don't get it. I don't get how they can plant their roots somewhere, when they know that soon they'll have to go away."

And her face is damp, and Duke can't believe what he's hearing. Does she really have some kind of unconscious knowledge of her fate? Does she inwardly know that she'll eventually have to leave Haven?

Annabelle grunts and swipes at her face with the sleeves of her oversized sweater, looking disgruntled, and Duke decides he needs to lighten the mood or else his heart might shatter.

"Annabelle Cooper, are you _crying_?"

"_No!_" And she wipes her eyes furiously, one more time, for good measure.

"Because crying will not be tolerated on my dock."

That gets a laugh. "Shut up!" she giggles, brandishing her soaked paintbrush like a sword. "I am _so _armed."

Now Duke does leave, excusing himself hurriedly and turning away from her so she won't see the tears streaming down his own face.

* * *

They've been trying to protect her from the Troubles.

They're not sure what they think they'll accomplish. The Troubles are hard to conceal, and besides, wherever Audrey Parker – wherever _Annabelle Cooper _is, that's where the Troubles are.

So it was pointless, really.

And when she sees a guy literally spontaneously combust then _rise from the ashes _like a phoenix, they know they've failed.

"What the hell was that about?" Annabelle howls, looking personally offended.

And the cycle has won again.

But not for long. Because Nathan and Duke plan to win this time.

"Annabelle," Nathan says, and she turns to him, cropped pixie haircut standing wildly on her head, her eyes wide, her mouth preparing to say something rude or sarcastic.

And she has never looked more like Audrey Parker than she does now.

Nathan smiles.

"Have you heard of the Troubles?"


End file.
